1974 Porsche Carrera 3.0 RSR

Written by Sports Car Market

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The 3-liter Porsche Carrera RSR was one of the great long distance sports-racing cars of the early 1970s. Just 57 of these 330 bhp “evolution” versions of the already exciting Carrera RS were built, but they were successful beyond all expectations, winning every GT championship entered throughout the world.

The engine received a secondary ignition system, so an extra spark plug per cylinder was adopted, higher lift camshafts were specified, a higher flow fuel injection pump, and sliding, rather than butterfly, throttle bodies used in order to provide the necessary increase in power. As much as 345 bhp was achieved by some teams using even wilder cams.

An uprated Fichtel & Sachs sintered clutch coped with the extra power while the front suspension was lowered and rear pick up points were altered. Titanium springs and light alloy dampers were also incorporated.

Front wheel width increased to 10.5″ and rears were 14″ wide and to accommodate them the front wings were extended from the body by two inches, leaving a gap for hot air to escape, while rear arches bulged to new dimensions, having cool-air scoops formed into their leading edges.

Brakes were taken straight from the 917 sports racing prototypes, and it is said these items alone cost as much as an average family sedan.

For a production-derived car, it was outstanding because, in the 1974 World Sports Car Championship, it faced full works teams from Gulf (formerly Mirage), Matra-Simca and Alfa Romeo, who were fielding exceptionally strong teams of drivers in bespoke sports-racing cars powered by Formula One engines. It would have been no disgrace to have been overshadowed in such company, but a Porsche Carrera RSR finished in the points in each of the ten rounds and placed second, third, fourth, and sixth at Watkins Glen and second at Le Mans.

The car described here was the last unit built from the original batch made in 1974, and was purchased by its current owner in 1977. Between then and 1984, he raced the car in the Portuguese national GT championships, which he duly won.

Unused since that time, the car was restored in 1988 and is ready to compete again in national club racing, where it will prove extremely competitive.

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